From a reader:

Dear Jonah,
As your (former?) Navy reader states, the most disturbing aspect of the Abu Ghraib scandal is the involvement of NCO’s (non-commissioned officers, or sergeants) in these incidents. Since the Revolutionary War, NCO’s have been the conscience of the military and the upholder of it’s standards, as well as the enforcers of discipline. These individuals, if they are indeed guilty of committing these acts, have betrayed military law, their honor and the honor of all NCO’s.
You might be interested to know that in a court martial, NCO’s usually get the harshest sentence for a given offence. Everything being equal, they will serve more jail time than an officer or lower enlisted. Another little known fact is that while the jury in a court martial is usually composed of officers, an enlisted defendant can request that NCO’s are on the jury. This is not a good idea, as NCO’s are more likely to vote for conviction and the maximum sentence allowed than officers.
By the way, in the Army, jail is called the stockade, not the brig ( a Navy term).